By: Clayton Browne | December 6, 2017

It seems that irony can be a fine line to tread in today’s politically correct world. In a testament to this, an Anglican minister from Scotland has been vilified for a blog post where he urged congregants to “pray” for four-year-old Prince George to be gay.

The Very Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth, a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, wrote the blog more than two years ago, but it was reposted on January 27. His past writing popped up again last week after George’s uncle, Prince Harry, officially announced his upcoming nuptials with actress Meghan Markle.

The blog was titled “How to Change the Church of England,” and the op-ed laid out Holdsworth’s opinion regarding how acceptance of same-sex marriage could be eventually be achieved in the UK. Note that marriage equality became the law in both England and Wales in 2013, but same-sex marriages are still not recognized by the Church of England today.

In his blog, Holdsworth wrote tongue-in-cheek that marriage equality advocates should pray “for the Lord to bless Prince George with a love, when he grows up, of a fine young gentleman.”

He went on to conclude his perfectly reasonable argument: “A royal wedding might sort things out remarkably easily, though we might have to wait 25 years for that to happen.”

Keep in mind that young Prince George is currently third in line to the throne in Britain, after his grandfather, Charles, Prince of Wales, and his father, Prince William.

Holdsworth’s words have been heavily criticized on social media and by both political and religious leaders in the UK.

For example, Gavin Ashenden, a Christian Episcopal Church missionary bishop, argued that Holdsworth was using Prince George as “a gender-political football”.

In addition, Susie Leafe, the director of the conservative evangelical group Reform, commented in an interview with the media: “As a Christian minister he should pray for all people to come to know the love of Christ, rather than a fine young gentleman.”

Facing a storm of negative public opinion for his suggestion, Holdsworth eventually apologized for all the anger his opinion had produced in another blog post published on December 1, but he also insisted his words were misinterpreted.

He wrote: “I could spend the next few weeks defending that post and keep reminding people what it was originally about,” but then noted doing so would not really help matters much.

“The issues about the church and its capacity to welcome same-sex couples who want to be married remain important,” he noted in his later blog post.

He then went on to urge everyone to focus on the important issue of marriage equality rather than his controversial tongue-in-cheek suggestion: “I’m not interested in continuing it through a conversation about Prince George. I would urge others, those who agree with me strongly and those who disagree with me strongly to turn our attentions to the actual matter at hand.”